Cushioning device for tires.



APPLICATION FILED PEB.25, 1913.

Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

' ATTURNES 1 D PATENT GFFICE. JAMES EDWIN STROIIG, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE. I

I CUsHIbNING DEVICE FOR TIRES.

1,081,005. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Deg. 9 1913. Application filed February 25, 1913. Serial No. 750,473.

Zb'aZlavMm-z't may concern: instance, I h usllown a rim 3 having at Be it known that I, JAMES Emviiv STRONG, one side thereof a peripheral groove l, to a-citizen of the United States, and resident receive the flange 5 of a suitably formed of-W-il'mington, in the county of Newcastle, locking ring 6, the latter being inwardly 5o i 5 State of Delaware, have invented a new and urved to conform to the contour of the shoe useful Cushioning Device for Tires, of which flange 2 and serve the purpose of a retaining the following is a specification. means for one side of the tire. The opposite 5 This invention relates to tires for autoside of the rim 3, is provided with an upmobiles, auto trucks, bicycles or like vehistanding peripheral flange 7, adapted tore- 65 1'0 cles, and more particularly to a device to be ta n a suitably formed ring 8 which is likeused in connection with an outer shoe of a wise inwardly curved to grip the outer shoe,

tire, in plac'e of the usual inflated inner tube, itbeing understood that this latter ring is and has for an object to provide a structure forced into place, and the parts are held comprising, a plurality of cushioning elelccked by the tension of the tire under'coin- 70 nents, which are so correlated and arranged pression.

" I in the novel manner hereinafter described as 9 designates a plurality of disks, prefer- I to form substantially a complete unitary ably of elastic or resilient material, and havstructure ada ted to fit within and mainnge s ape in cr ss s ti n c rr sp n ing tain an outer casing in normal distended to the contour of the usual tire. That is to 5 and resilient condition. say,in my present construction, the disks '9 'It has for a further object to provide a are substantially egg-shaped in cross seccushioning device for outer casings, which wn, t lower slde walls 1 0 converging tox i tr t d ith d g d t it use i ward the rim'and terminating in aflat bear- -cc-n'nection with detachable rim structures, ing surface 11 adapted to Sea 11 h 3 so 525 wher by-th d i dil b d in and prevent side rocking or displacement of jno necti with wh l i tr t d i the tire under lateral stresses. It will also accordance with the present day practice. e n ted that the base surface ll of each It further consists of other novel features isk 9, has a transverse dimension, si flif t ti ll as ill b h i ft ciently large topre'ventthe outer shoe being 30 fully set forth. placed in position upon the detachable rim For the purpose of illustrating my inve structure without subjecting the disks to a tion, I have shown in the accompanying compressive action. In otl ier words, when I drawings one form thereof, which is at presthe disks 9 are placed within the outer shoe ent preferred bynie, since the same has been portion of the tire which seats upon 90v 85 found in practice to give satisfactory and the rim 3 will more than fill the space bereliable results, although it is tobe undertween the ring h and the flange L 0f the run A stood that the various iiistrunientalities of and therefore, it is necessary, in order to I which my invention consists can be variplace the ring 8 in position to employ a suitously arranged and or i d d th t y able clamp ortool to compress transversely 95 40 inv ntio 5 not limit d t th precise n the cushioning elements to. the necessary exrangement. and organization of these instrutent, to allow the ring 8 to be seated as mentalities as herein shown and described. shown in Fig. 3. In thisposition, the tire Figure 1 represents a side elevation partly 1S firmly locked to the rim, owing to the in section of a tire embodying my invencompression of the cush omn disks 9. 1 tion. Fig. 2 represents a transverse section 2 designates a plurality o wedge-shaped showing the device in place 'upon a rim insertsor spacing elements, each positioned 'beforebeing clamped thereto. Fig. 3 i-epi-eat suitable intervals between certain pairs sentsa similar section showing the tire in of disks 9, in order to prevent an unclue fixed position upon the rim. amount of space on the outer peripheral 1 5 Similar numerals of reference indicate surface of the said disks. It will of course be apparent that owing ,to the radial ar corres ondin arts in the fi ures. I

Ref rring go the drawings i-d designates ra-ngement of the disks 9 a certain amount the usual outer casing or shoe of a tire proof space would be left unfilled at this outer vided with the customary circumferential portion, which would permit a greater 1 56- 'de fl n es 2 b means of which the shoe is amount of play between the disks than field iii gositiiin upon a'riin. In the present would be advantageous for the. best workpreferably ing conditions, and it is to avoid this action that I prefer to insert the wedge-shaped filler members 12.

13 designates a plurality of bonding or connectingwires, passing through the disks 9 and forming a continuous tying means upon which the disks are placed and arranged in the desired order before placing within the shoe 1. It will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 3, that thetying wires 13 are arranged as shown therein, two of said wires being employed, arranged on each side of the axis of the tube and each wire being below the center of the cushioning devices 9, so that it will be seen that when said elements are assembled on said Wires, and the latter are tightened by having their ends suitably secured together, the inner, narrower, contiguous, juxtaposed portions of said cushioning devices 9 are tightly compressed in a direction longitudinally in respect of said wires, whereby the outer, wider, curved portions of said devices 9 are held, to a slight extent, somewhat loosely in contact with each other, so that, the outer arc of the devices 9 is somewhat soft and pliable, since their contacting surfaces are not rigidly secured against each other by reason of the location of the wires 13, so

that there is opportunity afforded fora slight inward compression of the outer arc-shaped portions of the elements 9, as well as a deflect-ion in eitherdirection longitudinally of the wires 13, in case the wheel meets;with an obstruction. It therefore will be apparent that the inner contiguous portions of the cushioning devices 9 are tightly compressed against each other longitudinally, as well as transversely, by reason of my novel construction, so that I attain results which cannot be attained by any prior structure,-with which I am familiar. My present construction is differentiated from prior devices, wherein a solid filler has been employed extending throughout the length of the outer shoe, because in said construction,

the outer arc-shaped portion of said solid filler is when the parts are assembled tightly compressed and possesses little resiliency as compared with my device, and cannot be conveniently placed in positlon manually.

as is the case with my invention, which can be readily installed on the road by unskilled labor.

It will be understood that the constructions seen in Figs. 2 and 3 show merely one type of locking or demountable rlngs which may be employed, as numerous other forms of looking or demountable rings may be employed, without departing from the spirit of my invention. v

This device servesas a substitute for the ordinary air filled inner tube, and may be used,.if desired, as a permanent resilient or cushioning means, within the outer shoe, or carried in the vehicle as an emergency device wherewith a punctured inner tube may be replaced without the usual long delay occasioned by inserting a new inner tube or patching the punctured inner tube, and inflating with air.

It will now be apparent that-I have devised a complete unitary structure, simple in construction, comprising few parts, and embodying all the material elements necessary to produce an easy running resilient tire structure. Attention is directed particularly to the formationof the disks which are of such a size as to require a compressive action, in order to assemble the tire structure on a rim, there being therefore no danger of the tire becoming loose or de taclied from the rim under running condition. It will further be noted that by providing a comparatively large number of disks for each outer casing there is sutlicient peripheral space, even with the wedge disks in place to allow'full compression and insure proper absorption of the shock.

Having thus described my invention what Iclaim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is':

In a device of the character described, an outer shoe and a plurality of flat cushion- '-ing devices of substantially oval shape in cross section, having arc-shaped outer edges and inner edges adapted to seat against a retaining device for said shoe, in combination with a plurality of bonding wires extending through said cushioning devices and located on each side of the center thereof and intermediate of the centers of said disks and said inner edges thereof, whereby when said bonding wires are tightened the inner contiguous, juxtaposed edges of said cushioning devices are compressed in a direction longitudinally of said bonding wires, whereby the outer arcs of said cushioning devices are left in a somewhat pliable condition.

JAMES EDWIN STRONG. Witnesses: ROBERT M. BARR, C. D. MCVAY. 

